Open Access Kent State (OAKS)

Self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief in his or her capacity to execute behaviors necessary to produce specific performance attainments, such as schoolwork. We are looking to investigate if self-efficacy is beneficial to improve a student’s academic performance. As well as determine if a student's determination to apply their academic capacity affects one’s self-efficacy. We hypothesize that the clarity and thoroughness of a student’s notes influence their self-efficacy. We also hypothesize that self-efficacy has no effect on note-taking behaviors. For our third hypothesis, we hypothesize that students' confidence in their note-taking ability Has a positive effect on their self-efficacy. Additional research needs to be conducted on self-efficacy to determine if student’s note-taking ability influences positive academic performance and achievement amongst college students. To collect data, we have created an anonymous online survey. Our study has been approved by Kent State IRB, and our data collecting is ongoing.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the bone marrow (BM) and blood in which the BM produces abnormal myeloblasts. Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A (VEGF-A) induces blood vessel formation that contributes to tumor growth, and inhibitors of VEGF-A are used clinically. However cancer cells acquire resistance to these drugs leading to recurrence, so we are exploring alternative pathways that could lead to novel anti-VEGF-A therapeutics. Recent studies using RNA-seq analysis have shown the importance of alternatively spliced isoforms in cancer, particularly those encoding proteins with different functions. With our interest in adult AML we have generated a computational pipeline to analyze RNA-seq databases to compare the isoform expression of VEGF-A in AML BM samples with that in healthy BM samples. We asked whether VEGF-A was highly expressed in AML and whether it’s alternative mRNA splice forms were differentially expressed in leukemia BM cells compared to normal BM cells. We have successfully identified altered VEGF-A isoform expression in adult AML but not pediatric AML. This suggests different cancer processes are prevalent in adult vs pediatric disease and warrants a further examination of other cancer types.